March MOTM: sabertoothed horror - concept sketch + design commentary // nsfw

thanks again to lostmisfits for suggesting a monster with saberteeth! <3 

'sabertoothed horror' really was one of those monster of the month design prompts that was just the right amount of vague. it left me with a lot of artistic freedom while also specifying some important characteristics that gave me a sense of direction. it was imprecise enough to inspire me with all the possibilities, but not so imprecise that i got overwhelmed by the many choices.

the core of the prompt was that the monster should have saberteeth. now, there are herbivores and omnivores with some type of long canines, like muntjac deer, hippos, elephants, and boars. but when you hear 'saberteeth' i boldly assume that most people will first and foremost think of various prehistoric creatures and especially of sabertoothed cats. the most famous is probably the smilodon, which was a powerful carnivore and predator. i could have went down the less expected route of drawing inspiration from a sabertoothed herbivore, but the second word of the prompt, 'horror,' also qualified the vibe of the design. this guy should invoke terror. that's not to say that herbivores can't look intimidating or be dangerous (one word: hippos) but predatory and meat-eating creatures generally inspire more fear.

basically i went into the designing process knowing that 1) this guy would have saberteeth, and i wanted to emulate the fearsome power of a smilodon, but without merely making him an anthropomorphic version thereof and 2) he should look scary and horrific.

i don't know about you, but to me the moniker "the sabertoothed horror" sounded like a scandalous headline from a 19th century newspaper or the title of a early 20th century silent film. it's the word choice 'horror' that makes it sound more archaic and mystical and old-school. i don't know if it's reflected in the final design, but that notion was at the back of my head as i started drawing. i wanted him to look less like a modern creepypasta and more like a anti-heroic monster from the golden era of horror-oriented black-and-white movies, like the mummy, frankenstein, dracula, phantom of the opera, and creature from the black lagoon. or alternatively, like he'd belong on the painted cover of a late 19th century horror novel.

(all this, in turn, made me think of the old trope of the monster that strikes fear in humans but in reality they're just misunderstood and longing for love. you know me--even when i'm drawing horrific monsters i'm a hopeless fan of romance, and who's to say nightmarish monsters can't find love?)

anyway, i've previously discussed that whenever i set out to design a creepy or eerie or eldritch creature, i tend to default to a gangly, scrawny, and bony body type. but now that i'm aware of this tendency i'm trying to broaden my horizons and so i decided to not do that thing this time around--this sabertoothed horror would be beefy. which also ties into the aesthetic of powerful smilodons mentioned above!

i started out just doodling his head, so i could focus on the saberteeth from the start. i had this mental image of his face smoothly merging into a scruffy mane, a design choice that has no deeper meaning beyond how much i like monsters with manes or very fluffy necks. i also really like eyeless designs and removing the eyes is a very effective way to make a monster look strange and potentially unsettling, so it worked great with the vibe i was aiming for.

i thought about giving him several mouths with saberteeth, to hammer home the concept and make him look horrific as hell. but then i remembered a sketch i drew months ago, of a lady that had teeth growing in rows all over her body (you can see her in this sketchdump). i figured that since the saberteeth were an important part of his design i might as well take the teeth theme even further. plus, i think most people would find the idea of fangs growing where there shouldn't be any rather unsettling and even uncomfortable--it honestly makes me a bit queasy, but in an intriguing and exciting way. and if that's not #teratophilia, i dont know what is.

i first added the rows of fangs to his arms, thighs, and chest, and then to his neck--in a way that makes me think of the flaring necks of cobras. it looks neat and serves as a pretty border between his toothy neck and scruffy mane. you can't really see it on the concept sketch since it's not up-close enough but his claws also look like teeth growing from his fingers (which has me shuddering with unease lol). i also decided to remove his lips to make his snout more skeletal and thereby show more of the teeth in his actual goddamn mouth.

speaking of, his face was originally very featureless, covered only with leathery skin or something resembling thick scar tissue. the way i drew it on the first concept doodles made me think of mummies, and that's when i started looking at embalmed bodies for inspiration. 

the appearance of the flesh and wrappings of embalmed (or otherwise mummified) creatures can look different depending on the method of mummification and how well (or poorly) preserved the body is. i gave my sabertoothed monster a leathery hide that resembles mummified flesh a bit (although his muscles have evidently not suffered any dehydration lol), and the idea is that the textures range from shiny and 'polished' to more rough and 'dry' in irregular patches, as inspired by variously well-preserved mummies. his colour scheme is also based on the range of ochre, brown, tan, and grey hues (with various undertones) that most embalmed bodies have in common. i'm not saying he is a mummy, necessarily... but i'm also not saying he isn't. in either case the mummy aesthetic is a classic horror trope and since egyptology is one of my oldest interests i was eager to run with it.

even before i started colouring his body i hade this idea that i wanted his mane to be green-ish. as i gave his body a mummy palette i realised that the combination of a green mane with a brown-grey body also made him resemble ammut a lot. she's the monster who devours the heart of a human if it's heavier than ma'at's feather, and she looks like a combination of some of the most dangerous animals known to egyptian society--crocodiles, big cats, and hippos. so she also inspires fear for several reasons and hey, if i was already drawing inspiration from mummies, why not draw a bit more on ancient egyptian culture?

now, ammut is of course a completely different entity, i'm not saying our sabertoothed horror has any connection to her or even to egypt in general. i was simply borrowing aesthetic themes, because one of the ways we interpret a design is through the things it reminds us of. basically if people see this monster and think "omg that reminds me a little of ammut" they will probably know enough about her to know how scary she is and so, by association, it'll add to my toothy monster's terrifying impression.

plus, i'm a nerd, and i like incorporating references like that into my designs.

but if you compare the painting and the concept sketches above, you may notice that some things are not the same.

sometimes, when i'm working on the motm painting, i end up changing details to look different from the concept sketch, simply because i have sudden ideas of how to improve stuff. in this case i changed his face from being plain and scarry to being covered by more rows of teeth, with a few larger fangs merging into his mane, replacing the 'horns' of the concept sketch. even if i liked the scarry look i deemed it even better to repeat the concept of teeth growing where they shouldn't, especially in place of expected features like eyes and a nose.

and there you have it! if you have any questions about this design, comment below <3

// art + character © me.